3 Beauty and Grooming Audiobooks to Prepare You for Your Career

After graduating from beauty school, there are diverse career opportunities you can look into. A previous post entitled ‘​​Exploring Career Opportunities After Beauty School’ explains that professions range from traditional jobs like a hairdresser or a nail technician in a salon to more specialized roles in an industry niche, such as a medical esthetician or a lash and brow specialist.

Regardless of which role interests you, you can effectively prepare for your career not only by creating a portfolio and establishing connections through mentorships and networking but also by continuing your education. Signing up for webinars and certifications may first come to mind when talking about lifelong learning, but it may also involve reading books that deepen your knowledge and understanding of the beauty industry.

Moreover, a Business News Daily article explains that reading can help you in your career by fostering empathy, expanding your vocabulary, and sparking creativity—all of which are essential in a beauty career where you routinely engage with clients and need an artistic eye to envision the best styles. And with the rise of digital libraries, audiobooks are particularly convenient and accessible formats for acquiring these skills and preparing you for your beauty career, as explained below.

Why choose audiobooks for career preparation

If you don’t have the time and patience to sit down with a physical book, audiobooks serve as an alternative format that motivates you to read. You can multitask and listen while exercising, doing chores, or practicing technical skills like haircutting and nail design. A TIME Magazine article emphasizes that listening to audiobooks still counts as reading, as it engages the same brain areas responsible for decoding, comprehension, and critical thinking. Sharpening your listening skills through audiobooks can also help you provide better customer service and satisfaction in a people-oriented industry like beauty and grooming.

Additionally, there are now subscription-based digital libraries that provide you unlimited access to learning materials like audiobooks without having to buy titles individually. The audiobook section on Everand can be accessed anytime and anywhere and includes works that not only inspire and entertain but also contain industry-specific information, such as Younger: The Breakthrough Anti-Aging Method for Radiant Skin by Dr. Harold Lancer. The subscription platform also has user-friendly features that let you control the playback speed and set a sleep timer, making it easier to regularly listen to the audiobook recommendations in the following section.

Beauty audiobooks to add to your library

Flawless by Elise Hu

South Korea is the world’s third-largest exporter of cosmetics after the United States and France, entailing beauty and makeup professionals to draw lessons from the K-beauty industry. In Condé Nast Traveler’s hosted by Lale Arikoglu, Elise Hu, author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital, talks about how her book addresses not only the trends but also the cultural and political context of this booming industry.

So, as you listen to the audiobook version narrated by Hu herself, you will learn that Korean skincare and makeup go beyond being fun and highly advanced products, as they also reflect a culture of consumerism, lookism, and gender disparity. Gaining such insights can help you approach your career in the beauty industry with more empathy and compassion for your customers.

Clean by James Hamblin

Meanwhile, Clean: The New Science of Skin by James Hamblin takes a more scientifically grounded framework in discussing the beauty and skincare industry. By talking to industry experts like dermatologists, microbiologists, allergists, and aestheticians, the author and preventive medicine physician investigates what it really means to keep one’s skin clean and healthy.

One of the key insights from this seven-hour audiobook is the new goal of skincare, which is to cultivate a healthy microbiome instead of simply using various products. Overall, Clean represents an emerging science that will transform the way you treat, manage, and care for your future clients’ skin.

Pretty Iconic by Sali Hughes

Lastly, in Pretty Iconic: A Personal Look at the Beauty Products that Changed the World, journalist, writer, and broadcaster Sali Hughes does a deep dive into over 200 of the most popular and influential beauty products throughout the decades, such as Chanel No. 5 and Charlotte Tilbury’s recent releases. As a resident beauty columnist for The Guardian, Hughes’ wisdom can help you better understand the beauty products that shape today’s industry and what role they can play in you and your customers’ daily lives. 

If you enjoyed these recommendations, continue reading Touched By An Angel Beauty School’s blog posts for more resources on the beauty profession.